Baltimore uprising not all about race: Our view

Since the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., eight months ago and subsequent riots, the discussion has been all about race, and rightly so. Ferguson is two-thirds black, but the power structure — from city manager to judge to prosecuting attorney and clerks — was white. Just four of its 54 police officers were black. The Justice Department found overwhelming evidence of bigotry in policing.

But Baltimore, where riots erupted this week after the death of another young black man in police custody, doesn't fit that cookie cutter. Its mayor is a black woman, as was her predecessor, and several black police commissioners have run the department, where half the officers are African American. Yet Baltimore is the latest city to erupt in race-linked violence.

The obvious conclusion: The problem isn't just about race. There's much more — a toxic mix of desperate poverty, drug-ridden neighborhoods, tough cops dealing with tough problems, and an insular culture that isolates police from the community.

Long before Freddie Gray's death on April 19, Baltimore had a deplorable record of police violence against citizens. Since 2011, the city has paid out more than $6 million to settle, and hush up, police brutality lawsuits.

Now, it will need to face up to its problems, racial and non-racial. Among the most intractable:

•Thin blue line. Police — regardless of race — often develop an us-vs.-them mindset. Cops work with other cops by day and socialize with them off duty. "No matter their skin color, their uniform is still blue," Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox says. "And blue trumps black."

•Unconscious bias. Because "a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color," FBI Director James Comey said in a recent speech, veteran officers start to take "a mental shortcut" that leads them to be more suspicious of black males. Fair? No. Reality? Yes.

•Lack of accountability. Police departments aren't required to keep track of excessive-force incidents, and most do not. Police shootings are investigated by fellow officers or prosecutors who work closely with police. Under a Maryland law, superiors may not question an officer for 10 days after an incident, even a death — an absurd requirement that impedes investigations.

•Poverty and hopelessness. Crime and inevitable confrontations with police occur frequently in impoverished communities where young people lack hope, jobs, educational opportunities and strong two-parent families. None of those problems can be solved by police, who are stuck dealing with the violent consequences.

What to do? One well-aired innovation, increased use of body cameras, is already taking place. Progress also depends on better police training, ridding departments of rogue cops, and rebuilding trust with communities.

None of this is simple or easy, or painted just in black and white. But neither can problems that result in bloodshed and injustice be dismissed as too hard to fix. The price of that approach can be seen today in the streets of Baltimore.

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